As told to Brooke Allen and Janusz Gilewicz at the Tick Tock diner in Manhattan on January 7, 2019 I was born Josue Febres. I am 40 years old. My life story started in Atlantic City, New Jersey. At fifteen years old I became a provisional boxer, welterweight glove. It was in Paterson where IContinue reading “My Story by Joshua Febres”
Category Archives: Stories
You do not need permission to do the right thing. No one can give you permission to do the wrong thing.
I went to college in 1970. By 1974 I had a degree in mathematics and experience hitchhiking to every state of the union except for Alaska and Hawaii; perhaps 30,000 miles in all. I learned more about how to live from those experiences than anything I learned in a school. Here is the story of whatContinue reading “You do not need permission to do the right thing. No one can give you permission to do the wrong thing.”
How to write if you cannot concentrate.
Jack Rieur was the most wonderful teacher I ever had and perhaps the best teacher anywhere on the planet and for all time. I first met him in 1963 when he was my 6th grade teacher and we have kept in touch ever since. Sure, he covered the state mandated syllabus, but what he reallyContinue reading “How to write if you cannot concentrate.”
Stories from Germany
by: Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com A Luftwaffe Airman’s Daughter In 1980, my girlfriend and I were traveling on a rail pass. We left from Milan bound for Frankfurt only because that is where the train went. A German businessman sat across from us and asked, “Where are you going?” “Frankfurt.” “Why? Frankfurt is so boring.Continue reading “Stories from Germany”
Things VS People
© 2009 Brooke Allen brooke@brooketallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published October, 2009, in International Family Magazine Republished in Folks Magazine on 10/24/09. When I was 16, my dad told me to get in the car – we were going for a ride. We drove to Bolek’s Foreign Car Service. My dad told Bolek that his son neededContinue reading “Things VS People”
Crime Prevention
© 2009 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published September, 2009 in International Family Magazine A week after I moved to Manhattan, I went to a street fair and found there a policeman with a big sign: HELP US PREVENT CRIME I approached, “I’m game. How can I help you prevent crime?” He said, “By puttingContinue reading “Crime Prevention”
Fire Was No Stranger to Tokyo
© 2007 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Just before noon on September 1st, 1923, an earthquake struck Tokyo. Since so many people were using fire to cook their lunch, nearly the entire city was set ablaze. High winds (there was a typhoon just off the coast) spread the fires rapidly. More than half a million homesContinue reading “Fire Was No Stranger to Tokyo”
The Magical Power of Imagination
© 2007 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com Originally published in International Family Magazine As an undergraduate I went on a date to see a famous “mentalist”. I find magicians entertaining. My date was eager to show me proof of the supernatural. I was entertained and she found her evidence. His first feat was to control theContinue reading “The Magical Power of Imagination”
Time to Get Married
OPD 06/01/2006 Time to Get Married © 2008 Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com We had been dating for a year when I began to wonder to myself, “Is this the woman I should marry?” I started asking everyone I came across, “How does one tell if someone is ‘the right one?’” A young female squealed, “WhenContinue reading “Time to Get Married”
How Grandmother Won Granddad in a Beauty Contest
by: Brooke Allen brooke@brookeallen.com http://www.BrookeAllen.com OPD 05/01/2006 My Grandma Anne was a southern belle born and raised in Dallas. Granddad Tom was raised in Chicago and sent from home at 14 to earn has way as a man. They met in New York City. Anne had entered a beauty contest. In those days (before theContinue reading “How Grandmother Won Granddad in a Beauty Contest”
Brooke Allen 